MINSK, 12 April (BelTA) – Traktor Chelyabinsk defenseman Nick Bailen and Jokerit Helsinki forward Geoff Platt will join the training camp of the Belarusian national team ahead of the 2019 IIHF World Championship Division I, Group A in Nur-Sultan, BelTA learned from the press service of the Belarusian Ice Hockey Federation.
Nick Bailen is expected to join Andrei Sidorenko's team on 13 April, Geoff Platt is set to arrive at the training camp on 20 April.
In the coming days the team will also welcome goaltender Aleksandr Osipkov, defenseman Dmitry Znakharenko, forwards Mikhail Stefanovich, Pavel Razvadovsky, Stanislav Lopachuk, Sergei Drozd and Aleksandr Kogalev (all HC Yunost Minsk). Among those called from HC Neman Grodno are goaltender Vitaly Trus, defenseman Nikita Kryskin and forwards Aleksandr Malyavko, Sergei Malyavko, Pavel Boyarchuk, Nikita Remezov and Artyom Kislyi.
The national team will be training in Minsk through 23 April and then will head for Kazakhstan where the competitions kick off on 29 April.
In Nur-Sultan, Belarus will play a friendly against Kazakhstan on 25 April. The 2019 IIHF World Championship Division I, Group A will run in the capital of Kazakhstan from 29 April to 5 May.
Competing for two top-division berths, apart from Belarus and Kazakhstan, will be Slovenia, Hungary, Republic of Korea and Lithuania.
